The first piece of evidence he presents is West's return to Twitter, in which he posted four images of artists David Hammons and Joseph Beuys.

Hammons' work is known as encompassing "sharply critical commentaries on the cliches of growing up African American in the US", the Museum of Modern Art says.

Mr Wolff then points out Kanye is no stranger to flipping symbols on their head, referring to a photo of him wearing a jacket with the Confederate Flag on it in 2013.

During a radio interview at the time, West told haters to "react how you want. Any energy is good energy... I took the Confederate flag and made it my flag."

Aside from artwork from Beuys and Hammons, there is another artist that he believes West is taking inspiration from: Andy Kaufman.

Kaufman was a comedian, professional wrestler and performance artist who made his name in the 1970s for putting his audiences in uncomfortable situations.

Kanye posted a picture of his 'mood board', which featured the work of the Beuys and Hammons alongside what looks to be a drawn picture of Kaufman, with the word 'ANDY' written over it.

Mr Wolff also compared West's behaviour to that of performance art from Joaquin Phoenix, who had an odd appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman in February 2009, alongside other incidents which turned out to be for his 2010 mockumentary I'm Still Here.

"So my theory is this," Mr Wolff concluded. "Kanye (most likely with help from Tremaine and/or others) is in the middle of a performance art piece. What is the overall goal of it? I don't know.

"Maybe holding a mirror up to the world and forcing us to talk about some things. Maybe the album will explain.'

Kanye West is currently finishing up a project which will see five albums, all produced by him, released within a month of one another.